5 most incredible discoveries of the week

Mar. 22, 2014
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Graduate student Justus Brevik tests the BICEP2 readout electronics from the warm environment of the Dark Sector Lab in Antarctica. Researchers from the BICEP2 collaboration on announced on March 17 the first direct evidence of a cosmic inflation that initiated the 'Big Bang' nearly 14 billion years ago which is believed to have formed our universe. / STEFFEN RICHTER / HARVARD UNIVERSITY / HANDOUT EPA

by Newser Editors, USA TODAY

by Newser Editors, USA TODAY

A revelation that the nose knows way more than we thought and a big find about the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang highlight the list:

1. Human Nose Can Detect a Trillion Odors: Prior to this week, the official scientific answer to the question, "How many scents can the human nose detect?" was a measly 10,000. But a new study now puts the figure at 1 trillion. And that's an average, meaning some people can sniff out far more. Here's how scientists arrived at the number.

2. Scientists Make Key Big Bang Discovery: A dizzying scientific achievement: Astronomers have gotten a look back at what one scientist calls "the beginning of time ... the universe at the very beginning." That is, they've detected gravitational waves that might be the first direct evidence of how our cosmos came to be.

3. New Dinosaur Was 'Chicken From Hell': Col. Sanders' nightmare come true? Researchers say a new species of dinosaur unearthed in the US was a bit like a chicken-a 10-foot tall, 550-pound chicken that could rip your head off. It apparently didn't get along with its relative, T. Rex.

4. Skeleton Yields Oldest Known Case of Cancer: Scientists hope the skeleton of a very sick man from 3,200 years ago will give new clues to the evolution and causes of cancer. The remains found in an ancient Sudanese tomb bear traces of what is believed to be the oldest case of metastatic cancer ever found.

5. Scientists Revive 1,500-Year-Old Life Form: Have a craving for 1,500-year-old moss? Just dig some up from Antarctic permafrost, expose it to light and healthy temperatures, and presto, you've got moss. Scientists from Britain did just that, marking the first time a multicellular organism that old has regenerated so easily.

For more discoveries, including news that Mercury has been shrinking, visit Newser, a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.